Making fresh meals has a reputation for being difficult, messy and time-consuming. It’s not. In Kitchen Hacks, you’ll find time-saving tips for making delicious, nutritious “slow” foods fast.
Save that Avocado
I’ll eat avocado on almost anything. Or on nothing – right out of the shell with just a sprinkle of sea salt. But I’ve never been satisfied with the quality of a leftover half on the rare occassion when I have one. Reusable wax-coated wrap is pretty good at keeping it fresh, but it leaves your hand-rinse-only wax wrap green – permanently apparently. Exhustuve research turned up this great kitchen hack that leaves your avocado green and moist and your wax wrap avocado-free.
Simply fill a small glass bowl with ice water and put our avocado hald, with seed stiil in place, in the water cut-side down. It lwasts for days and come out bright green and ready to enjoy. You’d think it would be soggy but it stays firm enough to slice or chunk onto salads or sandwiches.
Toast So Good
We all love bread. Real, crusty, fragrant savory bread. Still, many of us try not to indulge too often. So when you go for it, you may as well make it fabulous. Toast made in a (preferably cast iron) pan is so eye-rolling good, it makes it worth the calories.
- Add a little oil or butter to your pan and heat at Med-Hi.
- When the oil is shimmery or the butter sizzley (watch closely – browned butter is fabulous, burnt butter is not), drop in the bread.
- Sizzle each side for 1-2 minutes until it’s fragrant and and browned in spots. You will not make it to the table with this – eat over pan!
Real Chopped Garlic
It’s so easy to have real garlic on hand. The flavor of fresh frozen garlic is bright and full compared to the sour taste of minced garlic preserved in jars in phosphoric acid *. Plus, it loses none of its impressive nutritional value from freezing.
* phos·phor·ic ac·id/fäsˌfôrik ˈˌasəd/noun CHEMISTRY: a crystalline acid obtained e.g. by treating phosphates with sulfuric acid, used in fertilizer and soap manufacture. [NOTE from author: Fertilizer?! I’m no chemist but that doesn’t sound good.]
With this hack, you’ll make just one mess one time and have ready-to-go Real garlic at the ready.
- Bash garlic cloves with the flat side of a wide knife.
- The papery skins will pop off. Brush them away. Repeat with 2-3 heads of garlic.
- Dice the cloves by hand or in a processor.
- Scoop into a jar and freeze. Pack lightly so it’s easy to scoop out by the teaspoon full.
“Instant” Oatmeal – That Actually Tastes Good
Instead of opening an envelope of gluey, sugary nutrition-poor instant oatmeal, pre-package your own. You and the kids will find it even More convenient than ripping open an envelope. Yours come right in the bowl. As a bonus, you’ll save the earth the burden of the paper envelopes, the cardboard box and the carboard “bowl.”
- Line up several glass microwavable bowls with airtight lids (available at most Dollar Stores). Real oatmeal expands as it cooks, so use 1 to 1 &1/2 cup capacity bowls so they don’t overflow when you cook.
- Measure in 1/3 cup oatmeal into each. Add bonus ingredients if you like, for added flavor and nutrition. You can customize these for members of the family.
- Here, I’ve added chia seeds, flax seeds and raisins. My husband hates raisins (who hates raisins?!) so his has a touch of brown sugar or dried cranberries or dehydrated apples.
- Pop on the lids and store.
- When you’re ready to serve, just add water and microwave 1-2 minutes. Pop a microwavable top loosely on the bowl so it doesn’t overflow. Or pour in hot water and seal the lid on for 2-3 minutes.
